SAKURA, I love you?
by mistressinwaiting
Summary: -In which, her mother never gave a damn—her father isn't that much better, either. And so, it's up to her teammates to cheer her up


-In which, her mother never gave a damn—her father isn't that much better, either. And so, it's up to her teammates to cheer her up

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><p><strong>Yay! My 50th fanfic! Yahoo! Booyah, baby! I'm doing wonderful these years, and I have you readers to thank for that! And so, thank you! Thank you!<strong>

**This story came to my mind when I re-watched the Korean drama _You're Beautiful_. Hwang Taekyung's relationship with his mother and Sailor Mars's relationship with her father in _PGSM_ inspired me to write this story. (Hint, hint: if you watched those two shows then some of the scenes from this fanfic might seem familiar, but they might not since I changed them a lot to fit this story.)**

**Plus, another reason for writing this story is because I wanted to write a songfic on Kana Nishino's song.**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

**Also, this is somewhat my [first] birthday fanfic for Sakura, too! Happy Belated Birthday, Sakura-chan! Tanjoubi Omedetou!**

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><p>°∴✿° ·°✿∴° .·°∴°·. °∴✿°· °✿∴°<p>

❤❀~SAKURA, I love you?~❀❤

°∴✿° ·°✿∴° .·°∴°·. °∴✿°· °✿∴°

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><p><em>I think of you whenever the sakura flutter and fall<em>

_I can't tell anyone but I'm constantly shouting on the inside_

_I don't love you anymore. __I don't love you anymore_

_I still really don't know. What should I do?_

_I can't say I love you? _

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><p>The first time her teammates came to her house was just a little bit after the Chunin exams and the Sound Invasion were over. It had been a quiet day, really. There were no missions to be given, not much to do either, and so Kakashi had deemed it a good day to have a day off and just spar. Of course, the spar ended up being a very bad fight between Naruto and Sasuke, and they were soon covered in bruises and scratches. Those idiots… They had been through worse, of course—the injuries they sustained from this little friendly match was <em>nothing<em> compared to their injuries they had gotten from fighting Gaara and the Shukaku. But Sakura deemed them even stupider than idiots at that moment because they just simply (and childishly) refused to go to the hospital. But Kakashi, being the responsible adult that he was, decided that the two could not go walking around the village while bleeding out from the large gashes on their arms and legs. The village did not need any more traumatized children or two of their shinobi dying of blood loss from just a friendly match.

And so, the team opted to go to Sakura's house as she was the only one of them who had a house that was not only welcoming but also the only one of them who actually had medical supplies that were just _recently_ bought. ("No, Naruto! Medical supplies that were bought _five__ years__ ago_ does not seem sanitary to use!")

"Do you guys want something to drink?" the pinkette asked from her kitchen. It was manners to offer guests some refreshments, but Sakura was just trying to hide the fact that she had forgotten where she had put her first aid kit.

"Nah, it's okay, Sakura-chan!" Kakashi answered for the other two as well, Sasuke sitting on the wooden floor as to not get any of Sakura's carpets or furniture dirty while Naruto was . . . well, it was hard to tell what Naruto was doing. "We don't want to impose on you any further!"

"Oh, okay then," Sakura cursed under her breath. Maybe she could find it before anyone realized her dilemma.

"Hey, you guys…" Naruto said in a voice as close to a whisper as he could get, though it was still pretty loud. Sakura probably couldn't hear it, though, since she was making such a ruckus as she looked through her kitchen for her medical supplies. (Well, there went Sakura's plan of _stealthily_ looking for her first aid kit.)

"Don't these pictures seem, I don't know, a bit _weird_ to you?" Naruto asked.

"_Tch_, it's probably only you, Dobe," Sasuke retorted. He was still a bit pissed that the blonde had managed to land a hard punch to his gut and that he hadn't been able to return the favor.

"No, I mean it, you guys!" Naruto was desperately trying to convince them of his oh-so rare breakthrough. "Like, _look_ at these!" He gestured to the frames hanging on the wall and the ones sitting on top of the bookshelves. "These pictures… They're all of her by herself or with her friends."

"_And_?" Kakashi asked, actually looking up from his _IchaIcha_ book. They could never have a simple day, could they? "What's so special about that?"

"Well . . . how come there aren't any of her parents? I mean, if I had parents, I would like to have pictures of them."

"There probably are," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "You're just not looking hard enough."

"Hey, I'm _serious_ here!" Naruto ignored the "For _once_" comment from the Uchiha. "There really aren't any of her parents! No Mr. and Mrs. Haruno anywhere at all in these pictures."

"Perhaps," Kakashi suggested, now also coming over to look at the pictures. "Her parents like decorating their house with pictures of their _only_,"—he emphasized the word _a lot_—"precious child." Unlike Naruto, however, he did not find anything unusual about the pictures. But in the coming years, he would realize how wrong he was about Sakura being a "precious child."

"Keep arguing, Sensei," Naruto snapped, upset that no one was listening to him. Why would no one believe him and his incredible finding? "But I'm telling you there's something weird!"

"Well, Dobe, if there _really is_ something odd going on," Sasuke said, "then you better _not_ ask Sakura about it. You might upset her."

"Of course, Teme," Naruto replied, squatting down to get a better look at Sakura's books. Knowing that Sasuke had become a bit more protective over their female teammate ever since the incident with Gaara almost crushing her to death, he gave a quick answer, not wanting Sasuke to go off on him about anything related to Sakura. He did not need Sasuke to be even more after his head in their next spar. "I'm not _that_ stupid," he added. And suddenly, he caught eye of what he was looking for. "Ah, here it is! Hee-_hee_!" He reached out to grab the thick photo album but then froze. He looked towards the kitchen and saw that Sakura was still pretty busy, looking for her medical supplies. ("Now where did I put them?" he heard her ask herself as she opened another cabinet door.) He took this chance to snatch the book of photos from its resting place on the selves. But once he opened the cover, he found something even stranger than his first observation about Sakura's choice of photos to display. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, why would someone mark the pages of a photo album?"

"Well, there's many reasons," Kakashi explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe she wants to remember when they were taken or maybe why they were taken. Why? How does Sakura label her photos?"

"Well, she has these tabs on the side that say the years, but . . ." He turned the album onto its side and squinted to make sense of the words under each period of time. "There are some other words below them. I can't understand what she wrote, though."

"Let me see," Kakashi said, taking the album out of his student's hands. Really, he wasn't _curious_. He just didn't want Naruto to read the words wrong and jump to even more eccentric conclusions. "The first one says . . . oh, '_without_ . . . _M__ama_.'"

"She lost her mother?" Naruto asked, his head tilting to the side. "But Sakura-chan's not an orphan! She told us herself that she _has_ parents!" He looked to his stoic teammate for backup.

Sasuke, letting out an exasperated sigh, did not want this to go on any longer. And so, he stood and walked over to where the two were and took the book out of Kakashi's hands and looked through the first section. "These are all her baby pic—" Once he realized what the photos were about, he quickly flipped the pages until it reached the second section. Sasuke liked privacy, and he respected other people's, too. And _no one_ liked having their friends look through their baby pictures, especially without their permission. Plus, he did not want the redness that were beginning to show on the tips of his ears to show on his cheeks.

"So perhaps, she was motherless from the start." Kakashi said, reading the second tab. Now he was . . . well, not curious but intrigued.

"Um . . . I don't get it, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto wondered. "How can someone have no mother? How would they be born then?"

"No, you _idiot_!" Sasuke said through clenched teeth. Did he have to explain everything? "He means that Sakura's mother probably died in childbirth or some time close to that."

"Oh…" Naruto finally understood, _finally_. He regretted asking the question, the answer too sad for him to take. "So," he changed the subject, "what's the second tab say?"

"Let's see, there's the years," Kakashi said, having memorized it as he looked through the section. (It was fairly easy to remember since it was only a few words.) "And '_first wife,_ _first stepmother, Rima_.'"

"Maybe that's what Sakura meant when she said she had parents," Sasuke told Naruto, hoping that that was the end to the mystery. He really did _not_ want Sakura to find out that they were snooping around. Given Sakura's short temper, he knew there was a _slight_ possibility that they may not get out of this unharmed.

"Wait, wait, there are funeral pictures," Kakashi exclaimed. His one eye was wide. He did not remember Lady Haruno having a funeral. In fact, he had not even seen her orbituary. "And the third one says, '_second wife,_ _second stepmother, Yuki_' and, next to that, in quotes is '_bitch_.'"

"So she has an evil stepmother now?" Naruto asked, even more confused. He held his head with his two hands, almost as if he were afraid his head might explode, and he looked as though he were a bit dizzy. "Like in those fairytale stories? But wouldn't Sakura be miserable then, not happy like she is every day?"

"What about the last tab?" Sasuke asked, now knowing that their teammate was hiding a lot more than what met the eye.

"It says, of course, '_third wife, Lady Yoko_.'" Kakashi read. "Hm, Sakura grew out of the stage of calling her father's wives '_stepmom_,' I guess."

"What are you guys doing?"

The photo album dropped as the boys turned their heads to see their female team member standing right behind them.

"Oh, Sakura-chan! Eh-heh," Naruto laughed nervously. Maybe he could still save the day and save himself a bruise to his head? "Um . . . did you . . . Um, did you find the first aid kit?"

"Yes, yes, I did," Sakura almost snarled. And after slamming the little medical box onto a nearby table, she pushed push him aside and picked up her album. "But when did I say you could go _looking through my stuff_?"

"Uh, well . . ." _Oh, crap,_ Naruto was sweating bullets. But he was saved when the doorbell rang. "I'll go get it!" And he rushed right out to the door.

"_Well_?" she demaned from both Kakashi and Sasuke, both realizing that she was indeed furious since she would have _never_ used that tone of voice with them under _normal_ circumstances. "What's _your_ excuses?"

"Now, now, Sakura," Kakashi tried to calm down the ticking time bomb that was his student. He slowly backed away from her, one tiny step at a time. "There's a _reasonable_ explanation for this." He glanced at the Uchiha and pushed him forward. "Sasuke shall tell it to you." He ignored the death glare the boy gave him.

"_Well_, Sasuke?"

Sasuke gulped, though he would never admit that he was _afraid_ of his teammate or anything like that. No! He just . . . knew that she was really, _really_ angry since she dropped the honorific to his name and had her arms crossed, mouth pouted out, and foot tapping while waiting for his answer. "It was the dobe's fault," he chose to say that since it really _was_ Naruto's fault and that Sakura would actually believe his excuse. "We were trying to stop him."

"Really now?"

He nodded once, Kakashi nodding vigorously. Mentally, he and Kakashi both felt a tad guilty for putting all the blame on the Kyuubi container.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Speaking of Naruto, he was now running back to where his team stood. Oh, if only he knew the betrayal Sasuke and Kakashi had done upon him… "The delivery guy says that _this_,"—he shoved the large box into the girl's hands—"is for you."

She didn't thank him, for she was still upset at him. But she decided it would be best if she just calmed down before unleasing her wrath, and so she looked at the envelop that was attached to the box. Her spring green eyes widened. Just from the elegant postal package, she knew who had sent it. "Is it that time of the year _already_?" she asked herself, getting strange looks from her teammates. It would appear that all of her anger was forgotten, along with the fact that her teammates were in her house, as she walked to her sofa and placed the box on the coffee table. She seemed a bit shakened as she cut open the letter, her hand that held the kunai shook. She read the card quickly before her attention returned to the nicely wrapped box. It wasn't a big box, but it just made it easier for her to open. However, whatever was inside had Sakura rubbing her forehead, her eyes watery. And it _wasn't_ the good and happy kind of tears.

Naruto was about to say something when a ringing sound echoed through the silent building.

Sakura pressed the speaker button on her home phone. She didn't say anything, but the man on the other line did.

"Do you like your present?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, if I were a few years _younger_," she answered, bitterness laced her breaking voice.

"Younger?" The man sounded confused. "Aren't you seven this year?"

"That was over _five years_ ago, Papa." If her team had been standing in front of her, they would have seen the stray tear that slid down her face. "I'm _thirteen_ this year."

Mr. Haruno was quiet for a while. Maybe he was thinking of something to say to lighten the mood? "I'm sorry, sweetie. I guess I forgot . . . again."

His apology sounded sincere, but Sakura wasn't one to believe him, though she tried to hide it. "Forget it," she said, taking a deep breath as she blinked back tears. "At least, you remembered to send your regards, unlike _that woman_."

"Sweetheart, you know your mother's busy."

Her team now glanced at each other, another question in their heads. If Sakura's mother was still alive then how come she wrote '_without_ _mama_' in the photo album?

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOAD OF _CRAP_!" she yelled, her scream causing Naruto and Kakashi to jump a bit. Sasuke just listened with an eyebrow raised. "And . . . don't you _dare_ call her that. She lost the right to be called my mother once I was _born_." And she picked up the phone and slammed it back into the receiver, effectively hanging up the call. She had her hands over her face, and so the boys couldn't tell if she was crying as she ran to her room.

"Naruto, don't go looking through her stuff again!" Kakashi warned the blonde. The minute he had turned around, Naruto was already ready to cause trouble again.

"But I want to see what got her so upset, sensei!" He moved the wrapping paper and box cover out of the way, trying to find Sakura's present. "_Aw_! It's a little dolly with a big shiny thing on its ribbon!"

"That's called a _'__diamond_,' Dobe," Sasuke said, wondering how Naruto managed to pass the academy. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up the card. It was a plain little piece of paper, and there wasn't much written on it except the words, "Happy Birthday."

Naruto came over then and read the elegantly written words. "It's Sakura-chan's birthday today?"

The two teammates could only look to their sensei for the answer, but even Kakashi could only shrug before they all looked towards the direction Sakura had ran in.

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><p><em>The sakura are beautiful this year, too<em>

_We were waiting for them_

_But the person beside me isn't you_

_Our promise is fading quietly_

_To be honest, I'm looking for you_

_While wondering whether you'll come with someone else_

_I smile back with a start whenever he smiles gently_

_It feels like I'm lying_

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><p>It was years later when Team 7 actually managed to find time to spare. The war was finally over, Konoha was finally rebuilt, and Sasuke was finally back. That, in itself, called for celebration. And of course, the only house that was actually clean enough to visit and have the little party at was Sakura's. ("No, Naruto! Having only ramen cups all over your apartment floor does not count as 'clean'!") After the location was decided on, Sakura had forced the boys—well, young men now, she supposed—Kakashi, and Yamato to go grocery shopping with her. And after that torture was over, they had made their way to Sakura's little home. Luckily, it hadn't sustained as much damage from Pein's invasion as her neighbors' did, and so nothing really had changed. However . . . Sakura didn't remember leaving balloons and streamers laying around, and when she turned on the lights…<p>

"_Surprise_!" Ino jumped her, knocking Sakura down to the ground, along with Sasuke and Naruto who were right behind the pinkette. (It was safe to say that all three of them weren't happy about that.) "Happy Early Birthday!"

"What?" To say that the cherry blossom was surprised was an understatement. "It can't be a year _already_!"

"Well, technically, not yet until the clock strikes twelve," Ino laughed, scratching the back of her head. Fortunately for her, Sasuke wasn't a bad guy anymore, and so she was safe from him trying to kill her for what she did just now. She helped her best friend up but let the two boys help themselves up. "I have a mission tomorrow afternoon," she explained, "So I might not have the time to celebrate with you. That's why I'm throwing you a party _now_!"

"A _party_?" Sakura asked. "From _you?"_ She pretended to think about it for a moment. "No thanks!" She still remembered what happened the last time Ino threw a party. Poor Hinata could barely look at her cousin the same ever again, and not to mention what happened with Tenten…

"Oh, come on, Forehead!" Ino grabbed her and began dragging Sakura onto the sofa. "What's the worse that can happen? And _don't_ answer that."

"Save me!" Sakura mouthed to her team, but neither Naruto nor Sasuke or Kakashi nor Yamato wanted to and especially not after the shopping trip she had put them through. Sai, on the other hand, was just wondering what danger to save her from.

"Here you go!" Ino said, shoving a huge present box into Sakura's hands once the rosette was seated on the sofa.

But Sakura was less than enthusiastic about the unseen gift. She seemed a bit nervous about opening it. "It's not going to embarrass me in front of my team, right?" she asked as if humiliation had been the only thing Ino had given to her throughout the years. "And it's not going to explode in my face, right?"

"Haha, very funny! You're never going to let me live down that failure of a cake, are you?"

"Well, since it almost _burned down my whole kitchen_," Sakura pretended to think about it for a moment. She had been lucky that time. Ino had only burnt down just a portion of her little cooking area. Poor Choji almost lost all of his treasured food storages!

"Yes, but the key word is '_almost_,' isn't it?" Ino asked. "Plus, that box isn't _my_ present! It was resting on your porch when I got here!"

"Oh, was it now?" Sakura seemed as though she didn't believe her best friend, her team crowding around her now. "No wonder it's wrapped _so_ nicely."

"Just open it!" Ino was getting impatient, turning a bit red from all of Sakura's teasing taunts.

"Fine," Sakura said. She turned the box all around, looking for a card. There was none, and so she shook it as hard as possible.

"What _are_ you doing, Sakura?" Sasuke asked. Did his teammate loose a few screws since he left? Surely, she remembered how to open a present, right?

"Ugly, that isn't how you open a gift," Sai pointed out, a smile on his face.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," Sakura muttered sarcastically, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "I was just making sure it isn't a trick of an enemy's or something like that. But since it's not ticking, leaking gas, or smells like something burning then I guess it's not." And so, she opened the box, only to be met by another box a bit smaller than the outside one. The brand was a very expensive one and, from that, the medic nin knew exactly who had sent it to her. "Well, it's a pretty box," Sakura said, trying to put the present to the side. She did not want to open it in front of her friends, but Ino wouldn't have that.

"_Open it_, Forehead!"

"Fine, fine, no need to growl at me, Pig." And she (slowly) opened the leather box. The snowy white interior constrated greatly from the pitch black exterior, but the beautiful hairpin inside took the cake of any present Sakura had ever gotten.

"Wow, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed in awe. "Whoever gave you that must be filthy _rich_! Look at how many sparkling stones—"

"Gemstones," Kakashi and Yamato corrected the idiot.

"Whatever! Just look at how many there are on that thing!" If Sakura was happy then Naruto must have been showing her joy, for he was the one jumping all around instead of her.

"Forehead, you never told me you had a secret admirer!" Ino glanced at the Uchiha and sang in a quiet whisper, "_Some_one better get a move on or else _they'll_ be the loser in _this_ game~!"

"_Tch_, it's not from an admirer," Sasuke snorted. Apparently, out of everyone there, only _he_ remembered a certain person who would buy diamonds for his daughter.

"He's right, Pig," Sakura said, her voice sounded a bit distant. A small smile made its way onto her face. "He remembered…" Whether she was talking about Sasuke or the sender of her gift, no one knew because the phone rang then. And like always, Sakura pressed the speaker button.

"Hey, cupcake, like the present this time?" the same man that had called on her thirteenth birthday asked. "I took _extra_ care into getting your age right this time!"

"I love it, Papa," she thanked him. "It's beautiful."

"Well, it should be. I had to get Chieri to help out. You know how bad I am at these things."

Sakura's smile got harder to maintain. "Of . . . of course. It's . . . I understand. But . . . _Chieri_?"

"Oh, right, you don't know yet," Mr. Haruno laughed. "Don't worry, though. You'll get the invitation and the notice soon."

"Oh, that's great!" Sakura reached under her coffee table. She had no trouble finding a divider and a marker. In fact, it seemed as though she knew exactly where those items were. "Congratulations!" It was easy to tell that the happiness in her voice was completely feigned as she scribbled the words '_sixth wife,_ _Lady Chieri_' onto the little tab. "I'm so happy for you." And she tossed the paper to the other side of the table.

"Oh, and sweetie, about tomorrow . . ." Her father seemed hesitant to speak. "I tried to get the papers ready but, because of the war, they won't approve of me visiting you especially not at this time when spies are frequently used."

"Yeah, of course, I understand."

Was it her team and Ino or did it seem as though Sakura had practiced that line a few times already? Her words sounded so fake.

"I'll try to visit you later in the year then, before the wedding."

"Nah, it's okay. I'll just see you there."

"Well, anyway, maybe this would be a good time for you to reconcile with—"

"DON'T EVEN _KID AROUND_ ABOUT THAT!" Sakura screamed, grabbing the phone and running to her room. She most likely forgot about the people in her living room, even though her shriek still scared the Hell out of most of them.

"Uh . . . what just . . . _happened_?" Naruto asked, blinking his eyes. Why did it feel like déjà vu all over again?

"Is Ugly on her period?" Sai asked.

Ino could only sigh and shake her head. "Leave it to that _bastard_ to bring up that _bitch_ again," she muttered under her breath. When she looked up, she saw all five of Sakura's teammates staring at her. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Do you know something we don't, Ino?" Kakashi asked.

"What?" Ino blinked before realizing what he was talking about. "_Oh_! You mean about her parents!" Her head bobbed up and down when she realized that, yes, they could only be asking about her parents when another realization hit her again. "Huh? You guys don't know?" Her question was answered when nobody said a word. "Well . . . I don't know _that_ much more than you guys do, but the stuff that I _do_ know . . . well, it's hard to explain. Just . . . well, just listen to this first." She clicked on the speaker button on the phone receiver that had been turned off when Sakura took off with the phone.

"THERE'S _NO WAY_ I'M RECONCILING WITH _THAT WOMAN_!" Sakura's scream, though digitilized, still sounded so scary and loud, but there was another emotion in her voice too. Was it sadness? It sounded more like sorrow or even lamentation. "PAPA, DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN! YOU _KNOW_ HOW I FEEL ABOUT HER!"

"N-now, sw . . . sw-sweetheart…" Papa Haruno, like everyone else who had ever heard Sakura at her angriest, seemed to be frightened by his daughter's sudden outburst. "I . . . I know you don't like her, but . . . but she's still your _mother_, and so you have to address her as such."

"WHY SHOULD I?" There were sniffles and a choking sound. Sakura was crying. "Papa, that woman hasn't even visited in over _ten years_. I'm eighteen. You don't have to pretend to me anymore that she loves me. She doesn't even _like_ me."

"Sweetie… Why would she hate _you_? She's your moth—"

"Don't use that line with me, Papa," Sakura sobbed. "She doesn't want anyone to know about me. She doesn't want anyone to know that we're even _related_." There was loud noise, as if she had blew her noise. "Papa, I'll . . . I'll talk to you later. I have guests over, and I _refuse_ to let them find out about this."

"Alright, alright," her father sighed, giving up right away. "I'll come myself to pick you up to the wedding. I'll see you then."

Sakura didn't even say a farewell before hanging up.

"That's pretty much all that I know," Ino said as she turned off the phone receiver. At any rate, it would be pretty bad if Sakura were to walk in and see that she had been evaesdropped on. "Every time her father calls, he goes off like an idiot. You'd think that, after all this time, he'd know what would set his own daughter off." She _tsk_ed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Instead, he's worried about not having a whore to mess around with for even the shortest of times. He's a disgrace to all the fathers in the world." She clicked her tongue a few couple of times as she moved her jaw around—it was her way of managing her anger. "I only found out about her relationship with her parents a bit before we graduated from the academy—both are filthy rich, her father likes to play around but he can't differentiate the gold diggers from those that really love him, meanwhile her mother is somebody famous but she abandoned Sakura the minute she was born, she wants to keep her relationship with Sakura a secret, and Sakura and her father both hate that woman, and that hatred is a mutual feeling." She shrugged. "Well, at least, that's what I picked up." And then she realized something. "Hey, where's Sasuke?"

"Oh, after the call ended, he walked off in the same direction that Sakura went in," Sai explained, smiling. But when everyone just stared at him, his smile fell. "What? What did I say?"

Naruto only laughed, throwing his hands behind his head. "I knew the Teme had it in for her."

* * *

><p><em>Whenever the sakura flutter and fall, I think of you<em>

_I can't tell anyone but, on the inside, I'm constantly shouting_

_I don't love you anymore. I don't love you anymore_

_I still don't know really_

_What should I do?_

_I can't say I love you?_

* * *

><p>With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Uchiha Sasuke tried to ignore the loud words coming from the dobe. He was trying to <em>think<em>, for God's sakes! Why couldn't the dead-last see that? Sakura had been a mess the night before. Not only had she been crying because of her spat with her father, but she had been fuming when she realized that everyone had heard her little fall-out with her father. Sasuke had to knock her out just to get her to calm down, and he hadn't been happy about that. The ruthless stun was sickeningly familiar, something that neither he nor Sakura wanted to revisit. And because of that, the Uchiha had a feeling that today she would be in a foul mood, especially towards him, no matter if he had gotten her a birthday present or not.

"Hey, look! There's Sakura-chan!"

The Uchiha looked towards the secluded area Naruto pointed at. There she was, looking as pissed as ever. But the strange thing was that she was not looking in their direction. No, she was angry alright, just not at them but at the group of men in black surrounding her. She even slapped one in the face after he tried to take hold of her wrist.

Naruto made a move to run towards her, but Sasuke stopped him. He wanted to watch. After all, Sakura knew how to take care of herself—Sasuke was certain of that after watching her fight in the war. Plus, these men with such small amounts of chakra posed no real threat. But the real question came when a few of them bowed to Sakura: just who _were_ they?

Sakura was red now, probably from frustration, but whatever words the men begged with worked their charm. She turned on her heels and walked into the rickshaw. From what Sasuke could tell, the kunoichi was not happy. Was it really a kidnapping? From the type of rickshaw and the built of the Norimono, the Uchiha could tell that it was not cheap and was used for only those of nobility or other higher-classed citizens. And that was what had him doubting the state of the problem. If he was right about this then those men could only work for one of two people. And when one of the men handed Sakura a veiled cloak to put on and when another one of the men pulled down the curtains in an attempt to further hide Sakura's identity, Sasuke knew there was only _one_ person who could order such a system of transportation.

"Come on," he told Naruto. "Let's follow them and see where they go."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Sakura wanted to scream out to release her pent-up rage. How _dare_ that woman order her bodyguards to escort her to a nearby village just for a meeting. And without any notice! How was she supposed to explain this to Tsunade and the Elders? She could be in serious trouble because of this! She swore, as she put on her earrings, that if she were to be punished for being out of the village without any of the higher-ups' permission then she'd—

"What are you two doing?" she heard her mother's secretary yell outside of the hotel room. "You can't go in there!"

Her eyes grew in size when she saw who had barged in here. This was more surprising than Ino's surprise party the other night. "Na-Naruto! Sasuke-kun…" Well, she hadn't expected them. And from their expressions, she guessed that they hadn't been expecting her to be wearing a pretty dress with her hair all nice and neatly tied up like the daughter of rich parents (because that was who she was and that was what she was hiding). She guessed she could call it an equal trade-off.

"Kino-san," she said to the secretary who was trying to usher her teammates out of the room. "It's alright. They're my friends." And then she added, in a cold tone, "Leave us alone." It was easy for her two teammates to see that Sakura had taken a disliking to this man.

The man seemed shocked to hear the girl's harsh order, but nevertheless he listened to Sakura. "Five minutes, Miss, before you are to meet with your mother," he said before he bowed and left the room.

"So," the kunoichi said in an attempt to lighten the mood, "What are you guys doing here?" She tried to keep up a smile, but the awkward silence that had befallen the room made it hard to do so.

"Oh, well, we thought . . ." Naruto didn't want to answer, afraid that the girl might get mad at him. They did jump to conclusions and followed along, thinking that she was being kidnapped. Well, technically she was, but Naruto didn't know that. "Well, on the plus side, we didn't come to evaesdrop on something private, eh-heh…"

Sakura just gave a small smile at Naruto's attempt at a joke and his attempt to come up with an excuse.

"You're meeting with your mother?" Sasuke asked, though it sounded much more like a statement.

Sakura sighed and nodded. "Right, the busy and well-known actress. She . . ." Sakura bit her bottom lip as she sat on the bed. "The woman's a bit . . . unconventional, in a sense. She wanted to meet with me a while ago, but I refused, so I guess she thought kidnapping would work a bit better. I made myself clear last time. I told her bodyguards I didn't want to see her at all, but she's more persuading than I am. After all, until I'm nineteen, she's still legally my guardian and thus can still force me out of Konoha and out of my profession." She clasped her fingers together, trying to hide her shaking hands. "She promised me that . . . if I met up with her now then she wouldn't bug me anymore."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto didn't know what to say. He felt so bad for his friend, but there was no way he could comfort her when he didn't know the whole situation. He looked to the Uchiha whose face he could not read. Wasn't he going to say or do something to make Sakura feel better? "Wow, now I feel stupid!" he tried to brighten the situation. "And here we thought it was a kidnapping!"

"Did you _really_?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow before turning to look at Sasuke. "You guys came to save me?" A bubbly feeling welled up in her stomach when she saw that neither of her teammates would answer out of embarrassment. It was the sweetest thing ever. "You're right," she told them, "because I didn't want to come here at all. They forced me here even though I refused to come, no matter what that woman promised."

The door opened then. "Sakura-san, we must get going now," Kino said. He seemed a bit hurried. "Your mother has a press meeting right after the hospital appointment."

"_Hospital appointment_?" the pinkette asked, the new information jumping her to her feet. She bit her bottom lip. From how hard she was biting down, it almost seemed as though she would draw blood.

"Yes, your mother has become ill over the years," Kino explained, oblivious to Sakura's turmoil. "She needs a blood donation if she is to live."

Sakura's hands rolled into fists. Of course, there was something to this. She _knew_ her mother wouldn't have called her to come on her own birthday just to celebrate. "And what makes her think I'd help her?" she asked, a threat in her words.

A frown etched itself onto Kino's face. "Sakura-san, please hear out your mother today, huh?" He grabbed her wrist and tried to drag her out of the room. "It would be the ideal situation for you two to reconcil in."

But Sakura snatched back her hand, taking this chance to also push her mother's secretary away from her without any bit of gentleness. "_Ideal_?" she asked, her voice raised. Kino must have bumped his head against something. "How _dare_ you say that! That woman . . . she turned her back on me the minute I was born! She wanted to abort me the moment she found out I was conceived! She hasn't even contacted me ever since she dropped me off in Konoha! How is this _ideal_?" she asked once again, her green eyes starting to look like lily pads in a small pond. She still couldn't believe that Kino used that word to describe the problem at hand. "She doesn't even remember my birthday, and she was ready to kill me before I was _born_! How can I choose the decision to save _her_ life when she was ready to end _mine_, her own unborn child's life?"

"Sakura-san," Kino pleaded with the girl, "Your mother didn't mean to—"

"_Mother_?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "Don't make me laugh! Get out!" she screamed, shoving the man towards the door. "Get out, _get out_, GET OUT!"

"Sakura-san, calm down—"

"Leave."

The two and Naruto turned to Sasuke, surprised that he had spoken out of turn and out of his place in this argument.

"Leave," he ordered yet again. "_Now_."

"Who do you think you are?" Kino asked him, ready to lash out at the Uchiha.

It was then that Naruto opened the hotel room door.

"What are you doing?" Kino demanded the answer as Naruto pushed him out of the room. "Stop this! Stop!"

Sakura was back to sitting on the bed once the man left the room. She stared out of the window, her face away from both Sasuke and Naruto. She didn't want her teammates to see her like this, ready to cry over something as miniscule as this. "It's all a façade," she told them, her voice a monotone as it always is when Sakura was trying to hold back tears. "That woman . . . she hates me. She sees me as the reason why she lost the love of her life. If it weren't for me then she would have been free to pursue him. She can't even bear to look at me, let alone call me her daughter. That's why she left me in Konoha. Papa is no different, though his reason is because he wants to hook up with women. But I guess he's a bit better. At least, he can't hate me. I'm the only evidence there is of the short-lived romance he and that woman had."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sasuke asked, his arms crossed, as he leaned against the wall.

Meanwhile, Naruto just watched as the two of them spoke. This was necessary for Team 7 to be completely stitched back together since both Sakura and Sasuke had been at wit's ends for a while. Naruto didn't know the reason for the two to be so tense with each other, but he would bet all his ramen that the possibility that it had something to do with the night Sasuke left Konoha was _huge_. After all, only Sasuke and Sakura knew the whole story of what went down that night.

A wry smirk tugged on one side of Sakura's colored lips as a dry chuckle came from the back of her throat. It sounded like a mix between a scoff and a choking laugh. "Looking back at it now, it was a really stupid and foolish reason," she said, "but I just didn't want to burden you two."

That caught the two rivals' attention. Exactly what did she mean by that?

Sakura seemed to have heard their unspoken question because her next sentences answered their question. "You two were orphans," she said, sorrow danced in her voice. "You two grew up alone. You two, without your parents, did everything by yourselves. And you two grew stronger because of that. How was _I_ to compare with you two? I, someone who had stayed with my parents at least once and knew them. I, whose parents were still alive and with whom I could still speak to. I didn't grow stronger because of the distance between my parents and myself. I only grew weaker and weaker, wanting attention that I never got as a child and wanting someone to just love me for me. I was _pathetic_." She looked to the ceiling as she blinked so many times to get rid of the water in her eyes, but the light only made more tears well up. "I kept trying to get them both to approve of me, to get them to love me, when I knew it was all in vain. It was _stupid_. What was I in comparison with you two?" She gave up on hiding her tears and decided to just wipe them away as they ran down her face. She gave up soon because she couldn't catch most of her teardrops. "In my eyes and in my mind and heart, I knew I had no right to have been complaining because I still had parents. At least, I still had them… In contrast to you guys, my situation was a lot better than yours. At least . . . that was what I thought. I had no right to be troubling you guys about it. But even then and even now . . ." She reached down and took off one of her heeled shoes. "I'm fed up with the act." And she kicked off the other one, making it bounce off from the opposite wall.

"You're right," Sasuke said after some time, lifting himself up from the wall. "You were stupid." He walked over to her, stopping right in front of her. "You were an idiot, too. Maybe an even bigger one than Naruto is." He ignored the Naruto's protest and looked down at her. "You should have told us. How do you think we feel finding out about it like this?"

"Sasuke-kun…" The rosette glanced up at him with wide orbs shadowed with mascara and eyeliner. Why did he sound so mad? She was even more surprised when Sasuke pulled her up by her arm and wrapped his arms around her.

"You were an idiot," he repeated, this time much more gentler. "You should have told us. Why did you think that you had to go through all that crap by yourself?"

That was enough to have Sakura crying and hugging him back. She buried her face into his chest and just silently sobbed.

"You're annoying," the Uchiha said. "Why do you have to cry so much over those people?"

Naruto could only blink his eyes. He couldn't believe it! Were his teammates . . . were they really . . . _hugging_? When he was finally over his shock, his mouth stretched in a long Cheshire Cat grin. _Finally_! Oh, how long had he waited for his two teammates to make up! He didn't give it any thought when he joined the hug and wound up knocking his teammates to the ground.

"Dobe, I'll _kill_ you!"

Sakura just sighed. _Leave it to Naruto to ruin the moment._

"Sorry, Teme, I thought it was a _group hug_!"

Sasuke really was ready to run Naruto through with his Chidori when a sweet harmony filled the air. His eyes softened when he saw that Sakura was actually laughing. Well, at least, she wasn't crying anymore.

* * *

><p><em>Though, unlike you, he's always sweet<em>

_And puts in effort to talk to me_

_Though he doesn't stare at his cell phone all the time_

_And has eyes only for me_

_To be honest, I wonder whether_

_Things were more exciting with you_

_I vaguely answer with "thank you" whenever he tells me "I love you"_

_It feels like I'm lying_

* * *

><p>It was a whole year later when Sakura's family problems were brought up again. Well, brought up wasn't the <em>correct<em> word. A better word would have been visited. It had been a normal day. Naruto and Sasuke had opted to spar this day as a way to keep Sakura's suspicions under covers. They didn't need her to figure out that Ino had planned a surprise party for her nineteenth birthday. But once Sakura was done healing them, it was already almost time for them to bring her home to where Ino and the rest of their friends were waiting for the birthday girl. Of course, being Team 7, nothing went as planned because, when they were making their way out of the training grounds, someone came up to them.

She was a pale woman. Her auburn hair accented her jade eyes, and her thick lips paired beautifully with her oval face and medium-sized nose. Her uncalloused hands and long nails showed that she was a woman of high status who never toiled under harsh conditions, and her dress was expensive, sequined and handsewn. There was no question who she was, especially with her strong resemblance to her daughter.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, her icy voice saying all that she wanted to say. ("_Leave. You're not welcomed here._") Her happiness and laughter disappeared the minute she had laid eyes on her mother.

"It would seem that Kino had upset you that time," the woman said, referring to the last time her secretary had tried to get Sakura to go to the hospital. She seemed to be examining her child, trying to figure Sakura out.

"What do _you_ care?" Sakura cursed her luck. Why did the woman choose today of all days to visit her? How ironic that it was always this day of every recent year that she had tried to reconnect with her daughter.

"I do care," her mother said. "You are my daughter, after all, and I am your mother."

"You can still call yourself that?" Sakura scoffed. Her nostrils were about to flare, no matter how good at looking impassive the kunoichi had gotten. "You're not my mother. You're just Aiuchi Myuki as you always are and nothing more to me."

The actress ignored her daughter's words, her face not betraying her. "Please. Listen to what I have to say."

"There's _nothing _to talk about," Sakura snapped, but her mother's menacing gaze told her that Myuki wasn't leaving until she had a chance to explain herself. It was then that Sakura remembered her teammates were still standing beside her. "You guys go on," she suggested to them. She didn't want them to see this. "I'll catch up later."

"But Sakura-chan…" Naruto glanced at the woman who was just scrutinizing them right now. He did not want to leave Sakura alone with this lady who had caused her to cry so many times already without even being near Sakura. Now that she was here, how would Sakura react? He didn't want to leave her alone with her mother.

And neither did Sasuke, but the Uchiha listened to the kunoichi's words and silenced Naruto with an, "Alright." However, he wasn't one to leave his girlfriend to the lions. And so, he leaned forward and, to Naruto and Ms. Aiuchi, it looked as if he were going to give Sakura a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be close by," he whispered into Sakura's ear.

A tiny smile appeared onto the cherry blossom's face. She knew Sasuke wasn't a man of many words, and that was as close to a "I'll be the shoulder you can cry on" as she would get from him. "Thank you," she told him.

And with that, he and Naruto teleported out of the clearing, and so now it was only Sakura and her mother in the training grounds. For a while, they didn't speak, Sakura refusing to turn and face her mother. What was there for her to say? She didn't want to be near this woman right now.

"So _those_ are the hooligans you've been hanging out with." Myuki was the one to break the ice, albeit rather going down the wrong path.

"Don't call them that," Sakura retorted, turning around to glare at the woman who had just uttered those words. She could take her mother insulting her but not her teammates. "You don't even _know_ them. At least, they haven't wronged me like you did."

"But still, you're dating an ex-criminal," her mother pointed out. It was easy to hear the dissatisfaction in her voice. "I never thought you'd go for that type."

"Don't insult him," Sakura almost yelled this time. "In any case, he loves me more than you ever did. But you know, it's funny. It almost sounded like you _cared_."

Myuki didn't bother continuing with the subject. "The last time I asked you to come to me was a mistake," she said. It was the closest thing Sakura would ever get to an apology at this point. "I should have explained everything to you first before I requested that of you."

"There's no need to explain," the pinkette told her. "I know what I am to you. You don't have to pretend to be nice anymore. I'm only a tool to you, after all, a burden that only lessens when you need me for something."

Myuki said nothing about that, instead choosing to ignore those words. ". . . I'm thinking of revealing our relationship to the world."

That sent a strike of lightning through Sakura's very soul. "_What_?" She couldn't believe her ears. "You're not _afraid_ anymore?" she asked, pure doubt decorated her eyes.

Her mother almost laughed. "Don't tell me it's _you_ who's afraid now," she teased. It was the first time that Sakura saw a smile on her mother's face. "There's no danger now," she went on to explain. "You're the Hokage's apprentice and a member of the strongest shinobi team in the world. No one would dare try and pull anything."

"You mean, no one would dare use me as a ransom to get to _you_ anymore."

"Sakura, _please_." Myuki was tired of going around in circles, and so she got down to the point of her visit. "I really need your help now. I'm sick."

"And it's good that you know that," Sakura barked out. The double meaning in her words didn't go unnoticed. "Why should I help _you_?"

"Because I gave birth to you!"

"And that's the _only_ thing you did for me!" she screamed back and turned on her heels. She had enough of this. Why should she waste her time with this woman? It was hopeless. The only thing that would be accomplished here would be another heartbreak for the medic nin, and there was no medicine for that, especially since Myuki wouldn't even feel the least bit guilty afterwards.

"I'm still your mother, Sakura!" Myuki's yell seemed desperate, as though it were a last ditch effort. Even though she hadn't been in Sakura's life for long, she still knew how stubborn the rosette was.

Her outburst had stopped Sakura cold in her tracks. "You know," the kunoichi said, not even glancing back at the woman, "it's a good thing you remember that. You're not as hopeless as I thought you were. You're a mother, yes…" Sakura was actually able to bring herself to look her mother in their duplicated eyes. "But here's something you should work on before anything else: as a mother, you should remember the day you became one."

For once, Sakura had caught Myuki off guard. "That was _today_?" the actress asked. She counted the days in her head. March 28th… Was it really this day so many years ago that she had given birth to her daughter?

"You know what? It doesn't matter," Sakura said, once she saw her mother's distress. _She really did forget_… She tried to ignore the throbbing in her chest, but she could feel the tears that were threatening to fall, and so she turned away from her mother yet again. "After I give you my blood, don't ever come find me again. I'd rather think of you as dead. Don't bother me ever again after this." And she left, not even bothering to look at her mother. If she had then maybe she might have seen how ashamed Myuki was at herself for forgetting such an important date.

"You're a horrible lady, you know that?"

Myuki scowled at the blonde who had jumped out of the trees just then. Didn't he know who she _was_? "You're one of Sakura's friends," she said, "And the other one…"

Sasuke was right behind Naruto.

Myuki found it so funny and ironic that her daughter was friends with _both_ Mikoto's and Minato's boys. Well, at least, she wasn't dating the latter. Myuki wouldn't have allowed it and may have even disapproved of that relationship more so than Sakura's relationship with the Uchiha.

"You know," Naruto continued with his rant. "I've met some pretty messed up people in my lifetime! But you take the wacko out of _all_ of them, Lady!" Naruto knew that wasn't true, but he was just so angry right now that he didn't even care about his words.

"Don't you _dare_ talk to me like that!" Myuki yelled. In all her anger, she really looked like an adult version of Sakura. "If it weren't for you and your mother then maybe I wouldn't be in this situation at all!"

"The Hell! Lady, we're talking about you and Sakura-chan here!" Naruto said. "Don't bring my mother into this!"

"And why not?" Myuki asked in a snarl. "Kushina and Sakura are both the same. Because of them, I lost someone precious to me. Because of Sakura, because I gave birth to her, I lost my chance forever! And if it weren't for your mother then maybe things would have turned out differently! Perhaps maybe then I wouldn't look at my own daughter as the object that ruined my life!"

Naruto almost saw red and almost tapped into the Kyuubi's power. "Don't you call Sakura an object! She's a _person_! She has feelings too, you know! Do you know what she does every year on her birthday?" he asked. "She _waits_! She waits for _you_ to at least _call_ her! And when you don't, she pretends like she's okay, but she's not because, once someone mentions you, she bursts into tears!"

Sasuke watched as pain sketched onto Sakura's mother's ashen face. In the end, this lady wasn't all that emotionless about her daughter, after all.

And Naruto was still rubbing more salt into her wound. "Do you know that?" he asked in a fury. "No! No, you _don't_! And that's because you're never _there_ for her! You're nowhere _near_ her!"

"What do you two know?" Myuki spat out. "You're orphans! You should keep out of this! This isn't any of your business!"

"Not any of our business?" Naruto asked, disbelief raised his voice up two octaves. "How dare you! Sakura-chan's—"

Sasuke stepped in then, deeming Naruto's job to be done. "We may not have parents," he said, "but at least we know we were loved by _both_ of them. Sakura may still have both of hers alive but, to her and everyone else who knows her, it doesn't feel that way, and that's mostly because of _you_. You don't love her and, even if you do, you don't show it. And that's what hurts her the most."

Myuki had nothing more to say. These two were the only ones besides her daughter who had ever stood up to her. And as she turned to leave, a smirk crept onto her face. She supposed that having those two around her daughter maybe wouldn't be so bad, after all.

* * *

><p><em>Whenever the sakura flutter and fall, I think of you<em>

_I can't tell anyone but, on the inside, I'm constantly shouting_

_I don't love you anymore. I don't love you anymore_

_I still don't know really_

_What should I do?_

_I can't say I love you?_

* * *

><p>It was a whole two years later before Sakura thought of her mother again. (It was no use thinking of her father. He had died almost three years ago.) This time, though, she couldn't help but feel a regretful and sorrowful pang in her chest. She tried to keep a happy face—it was her wedding day, after all—but it was hard for her. There was an excuse for Sasuke since both of his parents had passed away—well, at least, Itachi was alive and here now, thanks to a nice reverse jutsu to the Edo Tensei that had all the zombies (as Sakura liked to call them) turned into real live people again—but her mother was still alive. Sakura couldn't help but feel that Myuki should be here today, no matter what hard feelings were between them.<p>

"You want to talk about it?"

Sakura dropped her smile. "You know I think of you as more than that woman's replacement, Shisou." That was the only thing she could think of to say. With no one to give her away, Tsunade had stepped up to the plate, promising and crossing her heart that she would not drink until after the ceremony.

"I know, Sakura," Tsunade said, touched that her student thought that way. "But despite everything, Aiuchi Myuki is still your mother. You must be upset that she can't be here today."

"There's no use talking about it now," the bride said. "The ceremony's starting in a few minutes, and—"

The door opened then, and Sakura stood from her seat, her eyes wide—from fury, joy, or astonishment, she didn't know.

"Hokage-sama," the unexpected guest said, bowing to Tsunade. "I would like to be the one to give my daughter away."

A smirk threatened to appear onto Tsunade's face. _Well, speak of the devil… _She glanced at Sakura, glad that her pupil's wish had been granted. "It isn't up for me to decide."

Sakura was ready to tell Tsunade that she'd hide the sake now that she had put her on the spotlight. She looked back and forth between the two women before sighing. She was the bride. The choice really _was_ up to her. "Shisou, you better go and tell Sasuke about the change in plans." She didn't miss the approving smile that dawned on her mentor's face before the blonde left the room. But the minute Tsunade left, Sakura found herself wishing for her to return. What was she to say? She had just done a complete one-eighty, telling Myuki that she didn't want to be bothered by her anymore and yet now giving the woman permission to be a part of her wedding.

"Shall we go?" Myuki spoke first as always. "The ceremony won't be complete without the main star."

Sakura could only nod. Was this really happening? She knew she wasn't just feeling pre-wedding jitters. The silence with the only exceptions of the two women's clicking heels in the hallway only added to her apprehension. Sakura wanted to chew on her bottom lip to lessen her nervous tick but couldn't afford to mess up her makeup now. She glanced at her mother. Myuki seemed just as nervous, but there was color in her face that hadn't been there when they had last met.

"You seem . . . better," Sakura chose to say. She really hadn't kept tabs on her mother, and so she didn't know whether or not Myuki had won over her illness.

"Yes." She smiled, grateful that it wasn't her who had to cut the awkward silence. It was progress, she supposed. "And it's all thanks to you." She waited for Sakura to say something but, when it became apparent that Sakura wouldn't, she went on, "You look wonderful. The hairpin was a nice touch. It highlights your hair and eyes."

"Yeah, it was the only present from Papa that I actually _liked_."

Myuki ignored the wave of hurt that rushed through her. Her own daughter couldn't call her mother, but she could still call that man her father? When she thought about it, she couldn't believe her daughter saw her even worse than her father. "I see… But you still look amazing."

She heard her daughter scoff, but it wasn't a bitter one like the ones she had heard so many times before. "So do you."

She tried to contain her happiness. That was the first time her daughter had complimented her. "Well, you are the bride. And for once, you look stunning."

"Is that your attempt at a joke?" She could hear the anxiousness in the kunoichi's voice. "Because right now, you're just giving me cold feet."

"Gomen ne."

Their walk came to an abrupt halt.

"What's the matter?" Myuki asked, looking for the problem. Had Sakura tripped over her heels and hurt herself? Or did her train caught onto something?

". . . That's…" Sakura's small frame seemed to shake a small bit. This was the first time Myuki saw Sakura truly smile, and she had never seen her daughter prettier. "That's the first time you've apologized to me."

Myuki could feel heat rising in her cheeks. She turned away from her daughter so that Sakura couldn't see her embarrassment. "I know," she said, again leading her daughter to where everyone was awaiting for presence. "But I'm not here to apologize. I can't apologize for what I've done to you throughout your life."

"Then . . ." Sakura seemed hesitant to ask. Of course! Myuki wasn't here just because she wanted to be. She was here because she wanted something as always. "What _are_ you here for?"

Her mother took in a sharp inhale of breath before saying anything, her grip on her daughter's arm and hands tightening. "I'm proud of you," she said. "You're not following my mistakes."

"What?" Sakura almost fell over. She really had not expected that. She really had not expected to hear her mother admit to her that she had been wrong.

"I never married," Myuki explained, taking another deep breath before continuing. "I loved a man who married another woman whom he had a child with while I grew bitter and got drunk and had a child out of wedlock." From the sound of her mother's voice, Sakura knew that she had never forgiven herself for that. "Namikaze Minato, I loved him like no other. I was so upset when I heard he got married." Myuki's eyes were watery as she recalled that faithful day. "I was drunk that day when I had that one nightstand with your father. You don't know how many times I wished you were Minato's child but, once I had you, I realized my way of thinking was wrong and yet . . . I couldn't stop thinking that way. That's why I gave you up." Myuki had known her reasoning had been so fucked up, but listening to it now made her feel even worse about it. "If I continued to have you around, you probably would hate me even more than you do now. And I know that, even if I begged for your forgiveness now, I won't be able to get it. But I came here knowing that because I want you to hear me out. And even if you don't want to listen, I'll tell you anyway, even though it wasn't my intention to do so on this day." She took another deep breath, glancing at her daughter's wondering face before looking in the direction she was to lead Sakura in. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't do anything as a mother for you because I believed you were the one person who couldn't leave me. Since I only cared about myself, I hurt you in the long run." The tears that had welled up before were now replaced with tears of regret. "It's only natural for you to refuse to call me your mother."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sakura denied the warmth that was rising in her chest. She couldn't get her hopes up now. Not now, just to have herself disappointed again.

"Because I got scared," Myuki admitted. It was a cowardly excuse, but she really had no other reason. "I got scared because you're actually thinking of leaving me. You're going to forget about me and start your own family soon."

"I didn't expect this," Sakura said for lack of anything better to say.

"I know I don't have a right to say this or tell you this." Myuki bit the inside of her cheeks, trying to stop a sigh from coming out. "But even if you hate me, I still want to be a part of your life."

"Why are you saying all of this?" Sakura couldn't deny the happiness she felt at this moment, blinking back her tears of joy.

"Because . . . I know now that loving someone while not showing that love is the same as not loving someone at all," Myuki told her. "I know you hate me right now, but I really do want to fix things up between us."

They had reached the beginning of the aisle now. People stood from their seats, after regaining their composures from the shock of seeing who Sakura's mother really was, in respect to the bride. Their time for speaking was short now as they walked down the red-carpeted path.

". . . I could never hate you," Sakura said, trying to ignore the awing stares she got from everyone. She hesitated before adding, "Mama."

There was a genuine smile on Myuki's face. "You don't know how happy that makes me. It's also the first time in so long that I've heard you call me that. Even if I die now, I won't have any regrets because you turned out to be a wonderful woman." Her voice was ringing with pride, but she was a bit relunctant to let go of her daughter's hand once they reached the minister and her soon-to-be son-in-law, but she was surprised, even shocked out of her mind, when Sakura hugged her.

"Thank you," her daughter whispered.

Myuki gave Sakura a tight squeeze before releasing her daughter and handing her off to the Uchiha. "Take care of her for me," she told him. She wanted to add a small threat to lighten the mood between them, but she didn't know if that would be proper, especially since she didn't know her daughter's choice that well.

"Of course," he answered, almost a bit arrogantly and a bit smugly.

His best man just chuckled. "Don't worry," the blonde Hokage-in-training said, "I'll make sure the Teme here takes _wonderful_ care of her."

"_Tch_, sure you will, Dobe." Sasuke seemed as though he didn't believe Naruto's words at all.

But Myuki didn't care about the conversation that was going on, instead focusing on her daughter's happy face. And taking her seat next to the Fifth Hokage, she watched contentedly as the ceremony went on. She watched as her daughter and Sasuke exchanged rings and wondered how those two ever wound up together, but she locked that thought in the back of her mind. She would have time later to figure that out. And as she watched her daughter kiss her Prince Charming, Myuki made a promise to herself that she would never miss out on any more of Sakura's life.

* * *

><p><em>Though I would most likely be crying now<em>

_If I were still be by your side..._

_Though I should always be happy_

_When I'm by his side_

_I see your smile whenever I close my eyes_

_I can't tell anyone but my heart is constantly thrown into confusion_

* * *

><p>Sakura had felt guilty on the day of her mother's funeral because she had not cried. The tears had filled up her eyes that day, but she couldn't cry. Her mother would not have wanted her to have cried. Myuki had kept her deteriorating health from her daughter until her very last breath. Sakura wanted to respect her mother's last wishes, no matter how hard it was for her not to cry. It was a private event. Only very few people attended, and it ended quickly. Sakura had wanted to spend more time with her mother, a regret that would plague her for the rest of her life, but her mother had been attentative of her, giving her everything she wanted, in the last few months. And for that, she was grateful.<p>

Once the funeral was over, she took out the small piece of paper from her pocket Kino had given to her just before the event had started. He had told her to read it _after_ everything was over, but she really had no idea what it was or what could be written on it. The will had been read already, everything going to Sakura, of course, and there was nothing else her mother could really give to her now. And so, when Sakura had unfolded the note, she let her tears out. She really did not expect those three words, especially not now.

She felt her husband wrap his arm around her, his other hand wiping away her tears. She gave him a small smile before looking up to the sky. "Don't worry," she said, knowing her mother could hear her. She glanced down at her growing stomach, caressing her womb. "I won't make the same mistakes you did," she promised her mother, clutching the note close to her heart.

_"Sakura, I love you."_

* * *

><p><em>I want to forget you but I can't<em>

_I don't know anything anymore_

_What should I do?_

_I can't say... I can't say..._

_I love you?_

* * *

><p>And the photo album read:<p>

Without Mama,

First stepmother,

Second stepmother,

All the way to the Eighth stepmother,

Then to the black and almost sad words Farewell, Papa

And then new words that started a new life finally with Mama,

And back to without Mama once again but, this time, the child has grown up and isn't as alone or sad anymore

* * *

><p><em>I think of you whenever the sakura flutter and fall<em>

_I don't tell anyone but I'm constantly shouting on the inside_

_I don't love you anymore. I don't love you anymore_

_But repeating those words doesn't stop my feelings_

_What should I do?_

_The truth is I love you_

* * *

><p><strong>I swear, this is the longest thing I have ever wrote as an oneshot! It's enormous compared to anything I have ever written! It's almost 13,000 words! Whoohoo! It took me three whole days to write this!<strong>

**Please review, you guys!**


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